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Evan Turk’s A Thousand Glass Flowers

h1 September 8th, 2020 by jules


Preliminary painting
(Click to enlarge)


 


Final spread: “In stunned silence she watched as her father
continued to perform his miracles.”
(Click to enlarge spread and see text in its entirety)


 

I’ve a review over at the Horn Book of Evan Turk’s A Thousand Glass Flowers: Marietta Barovier and the Invention of the Rosetta Bead (Atheneum, August 2020), the story of the fifteenth-century Venetian glass artist. That review is here, and below are some final spreads from this beautiful book.

Evan also shares some preliminary images below, including sketches from his travels to research the book. You can click here to read about the making of this book. (It’s a link to the book’s backmatter.)

I thank Evan for sharing. I could stare at his sketches all day.



 

Preliminary Images:


 


Marietta
(Click to enlarge)


 


Angelo (Marietta’s father)
(Click to enlarge)


 


Marietta
(Click to enlarge)


 


(Click to enlarge)


 



 


Two images above: Gondolas
(Click each to enlarge)


 


Murano sketches
(Click to enlarge)


 


Murano
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Murano
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Murano
(Click to enlarge)


 


Venice sketches
(Click to enlarge)


 


Venice
(Click to enlarge)


 


References
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Sketch
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Thumbnails
(Click to enlarge)


 

Some Final Spreads:


 


“Marietta loved to watch the sun. It was like a glowing ball of glass that rose each morning to give light and color to the world. She lived with her family on the island of Murano, as all the glassmakers did, cut off from the main city of Venice.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“Marietta dreamed of creating glass too, but glass was men’s work. So while her brothers assisted their father with the blazing hot fires of the furnace, she stayed at home.”
(Click to enlarge spread and see text in its entirety)


 


“Marietta wanted more. Every time she saw the sun, she was reminded of the glow of the furnace and longed to be able to make glass like her brothers. She wanted to create! Often she would idle near the door of the glass workshop, watching the men work.
‘No little girls allowed!’ her brothers taunted as they chased her away.
But still Marietta returned.”
(Click to enlarge spread)


 


“One day, her father noticed her peeking and beckoned her inside. As Marietta stepped into the workshop for the first time, she felt the immense heat of the furnace engulf her. She stared into the blinding light of the bocca, the mouth, of the furnace
as her father gathered glass onto a long iron blowpipe.”
(Click to enlarge spread and see text in its entirety)


 


(Click cover to enlarge)


 

* * * * * * *

A THOUSAND GLASS FLOWERS: MARIETTA BAROVIER AND THE INVENTION OF THE ROSETTA BEAD. Copyright © 2020 by Evan Turk. Illustrations reproduced by permission of the publisher, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York. All preliminary images reproduced by permission of Evan Turk.





One comment to “Evan Turk’s A Thousand Glass Flowers”

  1. I love so much how the illustrator deals with light — it’s gorgeous and the way he depicts the molten glass is just spot on! I very much think we should plan a visit to Murano…

         by tanita♥ September 10th, 2020 at 1:21 pm

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